The Commitments

The Commitments (1991) is Alan Parker's music comedy-drama, adapted from Roddy Doyle's novel and ready to watch online on iFILM. Unemployed Dubliner Jimmy Rabbitte hatches a wild plan: assemble a soul band in his rough working-class corner of north Dublin and bring Black American R&B to a place that never asked for it.

Jimmy recruits wherever he can. Three sharp-voiced women turn up practically in his back garden, a brash lead singer named Deco gets poached from a wedding, and an aging trumpeter, Joey "The Lips" Fagan, answers the ad claiming he once jammed with every legend going. Rehearsals run through the night, and the band genuinely starts to cook. Then a taste of success arrives, dragging petty grudges, jealousy and clashing egos that tear the group apart from the inside.

Parker cast mostly unknowns, many of them playing and singing live, so the Dublin on screen smells like a real street. The soul-soaked soundtrack became a hit in its own right. It's a treat for anyone who loves films about music with no gloss, where the dream and the daily grind walk side by side. Stream The Commitments (1991) online on iFILM.